Exploring Kalbadevi: Students chart heritage trail for you to follow

Earlier this week when most classrooms at St Xavierrsquos College were filling up ours was emptying out The streets of Kalbadevi were to be our classroom its sights and sounds our audio visual aids its heritage and history the subjects of our study Egged on by our professor Dr Fleur DrsquoSouza 20 Third Year students of History took up a research project for their paper on Urban Heritage that attempted to excavate some of this historyDwarkadish Temple is a fine example of vernacular architecture Pic CourtesySachaet RajIn November 2015 we began our research about Kalbadevi It formed part of the lsquoNative Townrsquo as the British called it mdash the unplanned settlement outside the walls of the Bombay Fort After the fire that ravaged the fort in 1803 the colonial authorities ldquoencouragedrdquo the proliferation of native tenements outside its walls and the neighbourhood grew becoming in the 19th century a collage of architectural styles and social and ethnic groupsThe group at Bhiwandiwala Terrace on J Shankerseth Road PicDatta KumbharAfter extensive research we decided to visit this neighbourhood Some of our classmates briefed us on their areas of study that shared a connect Jibran SetalvadAnand gave us an overview of Kalbadevirsquos history in context of its neighbourhood while Sakina Mamuwala offered insight into the Bohri communityrsquos role in developing the area and the city Leo Kallery and Omprasad Mahapatra chronicled the sports and trophy shops that dot Dhobi Talao and KalbadeviBhangwadi Pic CourtesySachaet RajStop 1 We started at Metro cinema Sneha Rego shared that Metro Goldwyn Mayer built this Art Deco styled cinema in 1938 It became a landmark not just for luxury but also for the cityrsquos urban geographyStop 2 Taking the subway to the Framji Cowasji Institute I shared about its distinct features that confirmed its classical revival style It was built atop what was once Dhobi Talao lending its name to the area as is commemorated by a plaqueWolfing down a sumptous breaker at Kyanirsquos PicDatta KumbharStop 3 Kyanirsquos the centuryold Irani cafe was our next stop Over bun maska and keema pao we discussed the history of a few iconic institutions nearby like Furtados Sonali Peres and Living Kashugnao St Xavierrsquos School Abhilasha Singh and Kyanirsquos Simran Galipothu and Aroma Khan Kyanirsquos owner Farrokh Shokri explained how the rise of beer bars in the last half century was pivotal to the decline of Irani cafeacutesStop 4 Jer Mahal that housed Kyanirsquos is an exemplar of the lsquoVernacularrsquo style of architecture and along with Framji Cowasji Institute and Metro Cinema trio of buildings showcase diverse architecture within a tiny radiusJer Mahal as Naomi Fernandes and Vanessa DrsquoSouza discovered is home to a unique sociocultural arrangement the Goan residential club or Kudd These clubs provide cheap accommodation to Goan men but what makes them intriguing is their structure each kudd caters to a Goan village For example Assanora and Karnala have clubs in the Mahal each with its patron saint like St Lawrence for Karnala Only male villagers can live in the corresponding kudd En route Nicola Perreira had us stop at the Dias family ownedDavid and Company invitation card makers and stockists of religious goods draw customers across faithsStop 5 We walked towards Princess Street now Shamaldas Gandhi Marg towards Dawa Bazaar Here Priya Beck and Stacey DrsquoMello took us to through this bazaar that stocks homeopathic allopathic traditional unani and ayurveda medicines as well as medical equipment This market runs from Marine Lines to Crawford MarketStop 6 Down Princess Street we arrived at its intersection with Kalbadevi Road where we spotted the 99yearold Indian Art Studio This time machine owned by the Chheda family wowed us with their collection of vintage blackandwhite photos antique furniture and a basement photo studio Meanwhile Prachi Bhagwat and Shaun DrsquoSouza shared about the adjacent streetsrsquo legacy some named after martyrs of the freedom movement like Babu Genu others after English princesses Princess Street and renamed later after leaders of Junagadhrsquos struggle Shamaldas GandhiStop 7 We walked down Kalbadevi road stopping at Bhangwadi and Bhatia Mahajanwady sic and Swadeshi Market which Deepti Anand and Ann Peter had documented along with Kalbadevirsquos other cotton textile markets Mangaldas and Mulji Jetha We spotted the indistinct temple that gives Kalbadevi its name and the larger more architecturally striking but the lesserknown Dwarkadhish temple built in 1875Four hours had passed as we soaked in a cosmopolitan slice of the old city The conservation and neglect of its built heritage surprised us in good and notsogood ways Itrsquos up to us to ensure that this unique microcosm isnrsquot allowed to fade out